A/N: Sorry for the late update! After December 24, we've been pigging out almost every day and spending money on shopping while doing nothing productive. I felt like a super bum so I studied a bit for law.

But anyway, thank you for making my fic reach 100 reviews! That has always been a goal of mine. I'm so happy! So thank y'all to the reviewers who made it possible. *bows*

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed/Destiny

Chapter 8: Duel

-o0o-

Athrun Zala headed straight to a sports shop immediately after he had left the Hibiki household. He wasn't lying when he told Cagalli that he never played tennis before. It wasn't as if he didn't want to play tennis at all, he did want to try to play tennis. But it just happened that his father was a big basketball addict, their house had a basketball court and his father frequently invited him to play with him. So he grew up foreign to other sports, well that is except for judo.

Tennis just had to do with properly hitting the ball to the other side of the net, but of course it has to be inside the lines. That was all he knew about it. He didn't know how the game flows, how it should be scored, and the factors that needed to be considered to get a score. Heck he didn't even know to hold a racket properly, for he has never held one before. How clueless could he even get?

"Good afternoon Athrun!" The owner greeted him enthusiastically the moment he went inside the sports shop. Athrun and his father were no stranger to the owner because they frequently bought there. In fact, the owner considers them as friends. "You've finally visited my shop after many months."

"Good afternoon Pops!" He replied to the old man in the counter that was excitingly making his way to him. "I've been busy lately!" He laughed apologetically.

"Oh I see! Busy with work or with girls?" The old man tried to joke with Athrun.

"Both." Athrun wasn't lying when he said that. Of course it was a given fact that he was always busy with work, but currently most of his attention was on a certain blonde, a certain fiery pregnant blonde to be exact.

"You certainly are the playboy." The old man gave him a light smack on his back. If only he knew that he wasn't really joking about his answer. "So how's your father?"

"He's fine." He answered him. "He's having the time of his retired life travelling around the world with my mother."

"I'd like to have a chat with him sometime." He told Athrun. Pops and his father have always been close friends.

"I'll tell him that when he gets back from his trip." Athrun nodded.

"Oh yes, before I forget! What did you come here for? Do you need new basketball shoes? A new model just came in yesterday!" He went towards the direction of the basketball section and thought that Athrun would follow him.

"Actually Pops..." Athrun made him stop in midway. "I need to buy tennis equipment."

"Tennis? You're into tennis now?"

"Yeah kind of. I want to try and play tennis." Athrun didn't tell the old man in front of him that he actually got challenged into a tennis match. Pops would just be pestering him to tell him the whole story and will give him advices which he never followed once. Don't get him wrong, he liked the old man. It was just that he always gave advices that proved to be always unhelpful. "What else do you need other than a racket?"

"Balls." He answered bluntly which led Athrun's eyes to widen. Did he just say balls?

"What?" Athrun asked the old man, just to be sure.

"I meant tennis balls, young man." The old man chuckled. What a geezer. "You must be thinking of something very different." He handed him a case of four tennis balls. It was embarrassing to admit, but yes, he thought of something else.

"What racket would you recommend me to use?" Athrun got a hold of a racket on the shelf and started to swing it lightly.

"Of course the finest! You should get a Wolsin [1] racket." The old man got a white racket and handed it to him. "You'll have more control, reach, power and spin with this Wolsin power lite racket. It's much more comfortable too."

Athrun didn't know what the hell the old man was talking about. Everything that he had just said made no sense at all to him. But he decided to just be polite and nodded. "Thanks Pops!"

"Do you want me to adjust the gut and tension of that racket?" The old man asked him.

"Uhh... Sure." He handed the white racket back to the owner of the shop.

"How do you want me to adjust it for you?" He was bombarding him a lot of questions that really made him feel so clueless. He didn't like that kind of feeling.

"I don't really know." He admitted. He really didn't have any idea what Pops was saying so might as well let him take care of it.

"Don't worry! Leave the adjusting to me!" The old man beamed.

"I also need tennis clothes and shoes." Athrun told him.

"You can use your basketball shoes for tennis you know." The old man suggested.

"Naah." Athrun shrugged the thought of using his broken pair of shoes to play tennis. "I'll buy new ones."

"Okay then. Take your pick. The clothes are over there." He pointed to a rack of clothes. "I'll adjust this racket of yours first.

-o0o-

He got back to his flat and dumped the stuff that he bought from the sports shop on his living room table. Opening the other plastic bag that he bought, he brought out the "Tennis, played by the professional players of all time." DVD and the "Tennis: For Beginners" book. He felt so embarrassed when he bought them, he remembered that there were women that were laughing at him when they saw what he was buying.

"I hope I learn from reading this book." He sighed as he sat on his couch and started to read the book.

"First of all, the goal of tennis is to hit the ball to the other side of the court where your opponent can't possibly reach it." He read out loud. So he was right. It seems that learning tennis can be easy after all.

"The game can be played by two or four players. Singles for two players and doubles for the four players." He continued.

"To be able to win a set, a player must win 6 games." He briefed the glossary of the book to find out what set and game means. Tennis terms are very confusing.

He was slightly confused at that part, so he skipped it. 'How to score' was on the next page, he continued to read it silently.

"What a weird way of saying zero." He muttered to himself when he read that 'zeros' are called 'loves'. He found it amusing that it also made use of the term 'deuce'. So it was 'deuce', he always thought that the umpires say 'juice'.

Ways to hit a ball:

Serve

Forehand

Backhand

Volley

Smash

"What the hell? I never knew that there were so many strokes." He scratched his head in frustration as he continued reading the manual. He wondered why he never watched a single tennis match in his entire life. If he did, he wouldn't find it so difficult to read the tennis manual – for beginners.

Dimensions of the court

The sing-

"That's it. I give up trying to understand all this crap." He closed the book shut and slammed it onto his table. No matter how hard he tried to understand it, he just couldn't. Maybe it was also because he never really liked tennis at all. He brought out the DVD from the case and decided that he could learn to play tennis better if he was able to see how it was done.

Athrun put the disc on his player and waited for it to load. He went back to his couch and sat down, with the remote of the DVD player on his hands.

"Now we are about to watch the match that we've all been waiting for! It's Fuji Syuusuke [2], the prodigy from Japan versus the world number one from Spain, Rafael Nadal![3] Both of them tried their hardest to reach the Wimbledon Final Round. Will Fuji Syuusuke finally bring back the honour to Japan? Or will Rafael Nadal continue his reign as the world number one by winning another Grand Slam title?"

"Yeah, yeah." Athrun shrugged to himself while he skipped to the important part. He did not need to know the lives of these two players.

The match started and the Spaniard guy tossed the ball and then hit with his racket. The Japanese guy was unable to return the ball.

"That was a fast serve from Rafael Nadal! The score is 15-0!"

"So that's how you do a serve..." His voice trailed off as he was learning new stuff just by watching the game. A ball was out once it landed in the doubles alley. He learned that when the Spaniard guy hit the ball way too hard.

"Nice forehand stroke from Fuji!" The announcer said. It was helpful that there was a spokesperson that explained to him every move that they make.

The two players continued to hit the ball towards their opponents' side. Both refused to give in for the score was Advantage to Rafael Nadal.

"Why does that Nadal guy always have to make erotic sounds every single time he hits the ball?" Athrun asked himself when Rafael Nadal was making grunts and noises, usually the ones that are heard when you're in bed, when he returns the ball back to Fuji Syuusuke's side. Was it so necessary? He thought that it made him hit the ball harder, but then again it was really disturbing. What would horny women think when they hear him?

Thanks to the video he watched, he learned a lot the basics of playing tennis, the strokes, the scoring and the sort. But he realized that he needed to apply what he learned to the test and he needed some guinea pig to test it with.

He brought out his cell phone and dialled Dearka's number. Yzak wouldn't be of help, he was sure of that. He figured that Yzak would just lose his patience after trying to help him practice after a few minutes. Athrun remembered the times when he asked Yzak for a favour through the phone, and he always hung up. Damn him.

"Yo Zala what's up?" Dearka's voice came from the other line.

"Elsman, do you have something to do tomorrow morning?" Athrun asked him straight to the point.

"Nope. Why oh why?" It was difficult to hear what Dearka was trying to say, Athrun figured that he might be in a bar.

"Help me practice tennis tomorrow at Orb Plains Clubhouse. 8 am sharp."

"You? Tennis? Why?"

"Because I have a match tomorrow at 10, but I need to practice so that I won't look like a ninny in front of him." He answered him. Of course he was a guy, he had pride in himself. He wouldn't let himself look like a fool in front of a person that he taunted.

"Didn't you say once that you've never really played before?" Dearka asked him while he took a drink.

"Yes I did. That's why you should help me practice tomorrow." He tried to speak as politely as he could.

"That's a tad early... But okay." Dearka agreed, much to his relief.

"Okay thanks." He was about to hang up but then Dearka asked him one more question.

"Why are you having a match anyway?"

"Just come tomorrow, and then you'll know." With that Athrun hung up on him.

-o0o-

"You're not doing it right Zala!" Dearka shouted at him when the ball that Athrun hit didn't even reach the net. It was 8:30 in the morning and Dearka was feeling groggy. Like Athrun, he wasn't much of a morning person. "Hit it with more power or else that ball would never get past the freaking net!"

"Sorry about that." Athrun thought that tennis would be easier than this, but apparently, he was wrong.

Dearka sighed and picked a ball that was near his foot. "Okay Athrun, try to hit it successfully this time!"

Athrun tried the stance of the tennis players that he saw yesterday and waited patiently as Dearka served the ball. Once the ball reached the side of his court, he dashed to it and hit it with all his strength.

He was able to hit the ball alright, but it landed far out the tennis court.

"Now you're hitting it too strong!" Dearka commented.

"You said that I should hit it with more power!" Athrun reasoned. "I'm just doing what you're saying!"

"I said hit it with more power, not with all your power!" Dearka laughed at him and went to his bag to get a bottle of water. "Coaching a clueless beginner like you is no joke."

"Now it makes me wonder why I agreed to that sore loser in the first place." Athrun mumbled to himself as practiced swinging the racket that he bought yesterday. Now he felt like he was going to be the sore loser because he was unable to play tennis correctly. If only his pride didn't get in the way...

"That reminds me..." Dearka apparently heard every word that he said. He put down his bottle of water and went near Athrun. "How come you're playing a tennis match when you have no experience at all?"

"I was challenged by that sore loser." Athrun referred to Kira of course. "I really couldn't say no."

"Sore loser?" Dearka thought about whom Athrun could be referring to, but when no one came to mind, he just asked him. "Who's the sore loser you're talking about?"

"Cagalli's brother." He continued to swing the racket, hoping that he could hit a ball properly next time.

"And who's Cagalli?" Dearka felt lost. He had no idea who these people are.

Oh right, he doesn't know who Cagalli is. Athrun thought to himself. "She's uh... the girl that I slept with two weeks ago. I told you remember?"

"That anonymous chick huh?" Dearka gave him a pat on the shoulder. "So you got her name?"

"Yes I did."

"How? You got her number or something?"

"Nope. I didn't have her number back then. I ate at a pastry shop that she apparently owns." Athrun replied.

"So..." Dearka raised him eyebrow. He got her number, that must mean they were meeting with each other. "Are you seeing each other frequently?"

"Yeah." He answered bluntly. He was telling him the truth, but Dearka would sure misunderstand him. They're not dating.

"That's the lover boy I know!" He gave Athrun a knowing smile. "So are you having more sex escapades?"

"No." How could he even think of having sex escapades with a girl that was already pregnant? Although he couldn't deny that he wanted to, if in any case, she wasn't pregnant at all. Then he'd remember to actually use a condom next time.

"What?" Dearka couldn't believe what Athrun was saying. "But why? You're such a sissy!"

"It's not-"

"Athrun?" A familiar voice called out to him, he was very sure where that voice came from.

"Cagalli?" He can't help but look at her; she still looked beautiful as ever, even though she was only wearing grey sweatpants and a loose shirt.

"Hey there sexy." Dearka started to approach her. Athrun knew this was going to happen. After all Dearka is the total flirt who advances on any girl that he sees.

"Lay off Elsman." Athrun threatened him. Luckily it worked and Dearka stopped the urge to touch her.

"So this is the Cagalli you're talking about." He knew very well to keep his hands off from girls that were Athrun's. "I'm Dearka Elsman, Athrun's friend."

"Uhh... Hi." She greeted him just for the sake of being civil to Athrun's friend. She expected Athrun to be here early in the morning so she took a morning walk to the tennis court, but she didn't expect him to bring a friend of his along. Did he know about what happened between them?

"So gorgeous, what do you say you leave that lover boy over there and hook up with me instead?" He bent over to her ear and whispered. "Believe me I'm much better in bed than he is." Dearka joked while trying to act cool, which sent Athrun really infuriated. What was this idiotic Elsman trying to pull?

"I didn't know that there's still a person much more perverted than Athrun." She countered. She couldn't believe that anyone would say that to a person that they just met. She walked past him and went to Athrun's direction. And she thought he was courteous unlike Athrun. Boy she was so wrong.

"You're right about that." Athrun informed her. "Believe me, you won't find anyone hornier and perverted than he already is."

"How dare you speak of your best friend that way?" Dearka tried to act all hurt with what they both said. "Don't badmouth me in front of her!"

"So do you think you'll be able to beat my brother?" Cagalli asked Athrun, completely ignoring the tanned guy behind them.

"I don't think I can." Athrun confessed to her. "This is actually my first time to step on a real tennis court and play."

"Really?" Cagalli gasped. "You sure about that?"

"Of course I am."

"Hey there you two! Don't ignore me!" Dearka went to the both of them and tried to enter the conversation.

"But you should win!" Cagalli insisted. "Or else we won't be able to tell him about what happened."

"I know but it's really impossible right now. Give me more time to practice." He requested.

"You know that we have to tell him sooner before he finds out for himself right?" Cagalli reminded him.

"Yeah I know that."

"Tell him what? What are you two talking about anyway?" Dearka was confused. Is Athrun really serious about this girl? That was fast, considering that he just broke up with his girlfriend of three years.

"None of your damn business!" Athrun and Cagalli both glowered at him.

"Alright, alright I won't try to pry." Dearka laughed nervously and went back to his bag to sit down. "Sheesh they're acting so lovey dovey already."

"Hey you! Athrun's best friend!" Cagalli called out to him.

"Yes gorgeous?" Dearka lit up when Cagalli called him. Finally he wasn't being ignored. But then again he didn't like the fact that he was being called 'Athrun's best friend'. "My name's Dearka."

"Stand up and help Athrun practice would you?" She requested but for Dearka it was more like an order.

"You heard her!" Athrun bellowed at him. "Go and help me, your best friend."

Dearka couldn't help but feel like he was the jester in this situation. He couldn't do anything because he volunteered himself to help Athrun practice. So he went to the court that was across Athrun.

"Ready?" Dearka served the ball. Astoundingly, Athrun was able to hit the ball. Dearka, with his little tennis experience, returned the ball to the corner that Athrun couldn't reach. But any other player would have returned it so easily.

Athrun cursed himself inwardly. Why was he unable to hit that ball easily? He wasn't looking so cool in front of Cagalli.

"Athrun!" Cagalli called out to him. "Try closing your racket."

"Closing my racket?" Athrun questioned her. "How do I do that?"

Cagalli went to Athrun and got the racket from his hand. "You tilt your racket like this." She demonstrated it to him.

"So what would happen if I hit the ball like that?" He got his racket back and tried to imitate what Cagalli had just done.

"You'll be putting a spin on the ball. That way, it'll be harder to return." She answered him.

"Oh I see." Athrun resumed playing with Dearka. Thanks to Cagalli's skills in teaching him tennis, he was able to play a bit better than his performance a while ago.

-o0o-

Before they even noticed it, it was past ten already. Kira was driving to the tennis court, in fear that it might result into his defeat. He was planning on jogging to the clubhouse as a warm up, but he woke up late. It was a stupid reason to get defeated by a man like Athrun just because he was late!

When he reached the tennis court, he was surprised to find that Athrun, Cagalli and some random guy were already there. They seemed to have failed to notice him because they still continued what they were doing.

What irked him more was that Athrun was acting too familiar with his sister, making jokes that she seemed to laugh at. What was so funny about this guy anyway?

He cleared his throat to announce his presence, the three of them stopped to look at him.

"You're late." Athrun couldn't help but say that. Truly, Kira was fifteen minutes late. But wasn't Kira the one that said they should be on the tennis court 10 am sharp?

"Sorry about that." He muttered an apology to the cocky blue haired guy. He himself didn't like people that weren't aware of time so he apologized to him for his lateness.

"So shall we start the match?" Athrun asked him confidently. Cagalli couldn't believe this man at all. He was just playing so poorly a while ago. Now he has the nerve to challenge her brother, a person that played tennis his whole life, in a match. She secretly thought that Athrun would say that he won because he was late. That idiot wasn't really thinking! It was much easier to tell Kira knowing that he lost.

"Kira!" She decided to take matters into her own hands. With Athrun playing for the win, it was really impossible that they could even tell Kira. "I think you should listen to us now! You're late remember?"

"Your boyfriend doesn't mind. Right Athrun?" She could already see the fire burning in his eyes! Why did he have to be so competitive over a thing like this?

"Boyfriend?" Dearka was flabbergasted. They were a couple already? Why didn't Athrun tell him that he already had a new girlfriend already. He hated to admit it, but he was kind of offended that Athrun didn't tell him. They were friends weren't they? He didn't know that Athrun was so earnest about her. He thought that Cagalli was just a fling. But then again why would he be so serious about someone who was just a fling?

"And you are?" Kira turned to the blonde guy that seemed so astounded. He never thought that he knew Cagalli and mister number one.

"I'm Dearka, Athrun's friend." He answered Kira but turned to Athrun immediately. "I didn't know that she was your girlfriend already!"

Athrun pulled Cagalli closer to him for show, which sent Cagalli's face to redden. It also made Kira's face red, but it was of fury. He forgot to tell Dearka about their plans and lies. He would just have to tell him later. "Yes. She's my girlfriend now. I was surprised that you still haven't notice!"

"You bet I didn't!" He answered Athrun, still in a state of shock.

"Well you don't mind right?" Kira went back to talking to Athrun so he could take his hands off his sister already.

"No I don't." He nodded, but inwardly, he did mind. He just didn't want to look like a coward that couldn't take a fight.

"Let's start then!" Kira took out a coin from his pocket. "Heads or tails?"

"Heads." Athrun didn't know why Kira was asking him, but he answered anyway.

With that Kira tossed the coin in midair. He caught it and inspected the coin. "It's heads. Do you want to serve first?"

"So that's what it meant." Athrun thought to himself. "You can serve first." It was to buy him some time to practice on serving. By watching Kira, he thought that he could learn to serve properly.

"Even though you're Cagalli's boyfriend, I won't go easy on you." Kira warned him. He wanted to show Mister Number One that he was wrong to reject the merge between ZAFT and EAF that he proposed.

"You don't have to. Give me all you've got." He smirked, as if he played tennis like a pro.

"I'll be the umpire!" Dearka declared.

"Here I go!" Kira tossed the ball in the air and hit it with all his strength.

Athrun didn't even have the time to move his body as the ball already bounced past him. The ball was freaking fast! How the hell did he do that?

"A service ace?" Cagalli frowned. Why didn't Athrun agree with her when she said that Kira already lost? That Athrun didn't really want to give it up without a fight.

"Fifteen love!" Dearka announced. Kira wanted to jump for joy! At last he was beating Mister Athrun Zala – the number one at something.

"What's the matter?" Kira asked him. "That was just a mediocre serve. I'm surprised that you didn't even hit it."

"Don't worry. I'll hit it next time." Athrun turned to shout to Cagalli, even though it wasn't really assuring.

"You better hit it or else I'm not listening to what you want to say." Kira reminded him.

"Crap. I'm going to lose at this rate!" Athrun cursed to himself.

"I'm going to serve faster this time better be ready." Kira warned him.

"I'll get it this time for sure!"

-o0o-

End of chapter 8! Uhmm... Sorry if this chapter was kinda boring! Don't shoot me! *apologizes to the readers* I'll make the 9th chapter a much more interesting read. :D

Poll! What do you guys want me to update next? It Just Happened Chapter 9 or Meyrin's Attempt Chap 13 or Melody of the Past Chap 13?

Additional Notes:

[1] That's Wilson. =)) I couldn't think of any other brand so I switched the letters 'i' and 'o'.

[2] Fuji Syuusuke is from the anime "Prince of Tennis". I do not own him. T_T

[3] I also do not own Rafael Nadal, although I wish that he could be mine. /3